Sores on Tongue

Updated on March 26, 2009
R.M. asks from Portland, OR
17 answers

Hello. My 2 1/2 year old daughter has some sores on her tongue. They are mostly on the back of the tongue. Most of her tongue has a white film on it too. The sores kind of resemble ulcer like canker sores. It causes her pain. She tries to suck on a binky and it hurts too much. She drools and cries in pain. Also, she seems to have a sweet smell to her breath, like after eating a lot of sugar. Also, a runny nose and a goopy eye too! Not sleeping well at all. Has anyone experienced this? I have a call into the doctor, he is out of town. I will probably try again in the morning. Thanks so much!

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S.C.

answers from Portland on

Sounds like thrush to me. My boy had it a few months ago. Its an orakl yeast infection. That's why it smells sweet. Deff talk to the dr!

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B.S.

answers from Portland on

Hi there. After suffering w/ canker sores my entire life, I finally found something that actually heals them and is cheap and natural. Vitamin E oil. I had a natural dentist recommend this a few years ago and it has been the best thing. It works best when you can get the vitamin e oil on the sore or cut on the very first day (I usually put it on at night right before bed). If you miss the first day of treating the sore, it is much harder to get rid of. I just put a little on a q-tip and apply the oil directly to the sore. I had one pop up a couple of days ago on the side of my tongue (really painful). I put the oil on that night and the next morning it was totally gone. This is how it usually works if I get the oil on that first night. Also, swishing with echinacea and water is also helpful (makes your mouth tingle though). My twin boys had hand, foot and mouth disease last year and got painful mouth sores. I put the vitamin e-oil in their mouths and it really helped. I didn't know that they had the sores until a couple of days in, so they took longer to heal. I told a friend of mine recently who gets canker sores a lot about the vitamin e and he has been using it with great success. Best of luck to you.

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S.H.

answers from Portland on

I agree with the hand foot and mouth or thrush suggestions. But, I have also seen small sores on the toung just from a regular old virus and though they hurt they go away after the cold is gone. Either way a trip to the dr is probably in order.

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T.N.

answers from Portland on

Hi R.,

This is not be be misconstrued as medical advice, but the white film suggests thrush, ad the sweet smell sounds a LOT like high blood sugar, or diabetes. I would get her to the doctor and have her blood sugar checked. The high blood sugar is the perfect breeding ground for yeast, which is what thrush really is. Mean time, she may find some relief from yogurt and I would keep an eye out for excessive thirst or excessive urination, which I know is a tough one if she is still in diapers.

Good luck and please let us know how she is getting on.

T. Nelson CD (DONA)

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L.M.

answers from Seattle on

Hi R.,
I am not a doctor.. so definately put a call into the dr. or see the dr.. But when my children were the same age as your kids they had a virus called hand foot and mouth diease.. it is common.. and they had soars in their mouth ect.. have you ever been to www.babycenter.com great web site explains a lot about baby and kids health issues.. here is the direct link to the article that I think you would want to look at
http://www.babycenter.com/0_hand-foot-and-mouth-disease_6...

Best of luck and I hope your little one feels better soon.
Lenc

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H.O.

answers from Anchorage on

She's probably got a very severe case of thrush. First of all..NO MORE BINKY.. time to be a big girl. At 2.5 she's going to have bad teeth. Not only that but she is giving herself the fungus from her binky as well. Call your doc. Sterilize anything her mouth comes in contact with and stick some apple cidar vinegar in there to counter act in the short term. Swab it on if you can. If she can "rinse" have her do it. For pain I suggest orajel..as it is a numbing agent...will make her drool though..put on a bib..change it frequently to avoid reinfection. Keep her hands off her face if you can and out of her mouth. Make sure you deal with it with you too. Use separate towels, wash clothes...no sharing of cups or anything from anyone. Maybe no daycare..as it might have come from there or she may be spreading it. Help her out. with bad taste of vinegar by using honey, not sugar. The herbs that work as anti-fungals are Oregano, Thyme, Sage (especially Sage), and Basil. I used them with my youngest when she started on baby food simply to cure her yeast infections from the birthday antibiotics she had to have. (They suspected a staph infection). She had yeast infections for a year (which is what thrush is as well) and tea tree oil in her diaper rash ointment was invaluable..but I am not sure if you can get that in an oral formula. Good Luck. I also wanted to say that someone lower in the responses is right as well..it could be diabetes..ketoacidosysis (sp_) causes a smell like rotten fruit. The symptoms are easy..she just isn't herself, drinks a lot of water, wants to eat soon after already having eaten and breath smells like rotten fruit or almonds..time to do that test as early detection will save heart ache later on.

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J.R.

answers from Seattle on

Sounds like Thrush.... there is a medication you put in the mouth to cure that. It may be Stomatitis (canker sores) You should take her to the Dr.

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L.C.

answers from Portland on

Could be hand foot an mouth disease - it can start off with cold symptoms too. Get her in to the ped to confirm. I is very contagious, so your other children could get it.

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S.C.

answers from Seattle on

It sounds like thrush to me. More common in younger babies but I know it can happen to toddlers and even adults some times. My daughter had it and actually passed it to my breasts when she was breast feeding. If this is what is going on they will give her one of three medications. I can't remember the early ones but the last one is this dark purple die that you paint their mouth. Either way, see a doctor! Good luck, I remember it was no fun.
S.

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J.S.

answers from Seattle on

Hi,
I get something like that sometimes, but I get them all over my mouth/inside lips etc and THEY KILL!! It happens in response to stress (for me)&/or sometimes some nuts (walnuts) and bananas will trigger it. The docs down at UCSF tended to call it 'Eurythemia Multiforme', a broad category for things that they can't put anywere else! I also will get achy, really tired and have a hard time eating/brushing my teeth etc, so if your little one is a little cranky, understand! I take a small dose of prednisone and it does the trick, but I wouldn't think you would want that for your little one. stay away from acidic foods or things hard to swallow/chew (she probably has some sores in her throat too), applesauce, mashed potatoes, cold juices all sound good to me when I have the sores. Ifeel for her!

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K.M.

answers from Richland on

She has thrush(yeast infection in her mouth) that has gotten so bad the sores are developing(this is BAD). You need to get her to a DR/Urgent Care/ER right away. Your baby is in a lot of pain with the developing sores. Please take her in ASAP.

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C.K.

answers from Seattle on

It sounds like she has a serious case of Candida which is an over-growth of yeast in the system. It feeds on sugar so I would recommend eliminating sugar and things that convert to sugar from her diet (breads and carbs) to get it under control. There are several very good books on how to treat it and special diets. You could find them at the library or at a health food store. Unsweetened yogurt with the healthy cultures and supplemental probiotics would help. Good luck, it can be very miserable.

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S.P.

answers from Seattle on

It could be herpetic gingivostomatitis aka cold sores (or oral herpes). My now 3 year old daughter had that last year. It came with a fever as well as the mouth ulcers. The initial breakout is the worst and then she may or may not have any further cold sores on or around her mouth or nose. According to our doctor this is very common in little kids. She took oral acyclovir for 10 days. I must say that I was horrified with that diagnosis, but she hasn't had any further sores. It will be interesting to see what your doctor says.
p.s. I hope it is not herpetic gingivostomatitis but something easy to fix.

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J.N.

answers from Seattle on

Hi~
It does sound like Thrush to me also. She'll need an antibotic to cure it. Her binkie will need to be washed after every use. Call the advise nurse first if you're not sure and see what she recommends, but I would almost bet they'll want you to see the dr.

:)

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J.C.

answers from Bellingham on

Sounds like a yeast infection in the mouth. I used to get them from a medication I took. I bet any doctor could diagnose it. Best of luck to you and your little one.

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L.R.

answers from Portland on

I'm almost positive she has hand, foot, and mouth disease. My son had it several months ago with all the same symptoms...sores, white film on his tongue, etc. Does she have any little blisters on her hands and/or feet? I didn't think my son did, but the doctor found some teeny tiny ones (smaller than the head of a pin) that I hand't even seen.

Please get her in to see the doc asap, and keep her away from other kids. It's highly contagious.

We made milkshakes for our son (milk, fruit, yogurt, ice cream) because he wouldn't eat. We also bought him some nutrition shakes. I'd recommend something like this if your daughter won't eat because of the painful sores.

You can also rinse her mouth with a combination of Maalox and Benadryl. This is what the doctor recommended...just make sure she doesn't swallow too much. We also found that a simple saline rinse seemed to relieve a lot of the pain of the sores. Give her ibuprofen or acitaminophen to help with pain as well.

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A.H.

answers from Portland on

It might be hand-foot-mouth disease, which is caused by the cocksackie virus. it's very contagious, so you should let her daycare know if she goes to one. also, if your doctor is out of town, there has to be another doctor covering, so i would call them back.

After reading the other responses, i want to emphasize that you need to call your doctor's office. and also, just b/c her breath smells sweet does not mean she has diabetes. my son's breath gets like that a lot when he's sick and not eating. it's a physiologic process in the body from breaking alternate energy sources down to make calories. it happens in diabetics, but it also happens when you don't eat or vomit a lot. i just didn't want you to get too worried.

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